"Second Best" is track seven on the Hungry Lights studio album "Three Gods & Me." Remember that this is a summary, not the entire story! It is like 10% of what is actually going on—just the skeleton. It is a rough translation of what is literally going on in the lyrics. There is also a figurative story that is taking place at the same time which goes much deeper and does not involve the fictional character Prill, but that is up to you to find :) It is much easier to discover the hidden meaning when you grasp a decent understanding of the literal meaning first. These are your puzzle pieces, and I highly suggest you study them before pursuing the next albums in the sequence, otherwise emotion and information will be lost, therefore connections will be missed!

"Second Best" is Prill's fight with The Second God, Arilayah, who is a fast, nimble, skilled, akulite warrior with a two thin scimitars, and is the younger sister of Atah'xia. As learned in "Heavy Is The Crown," Atah'xia is presumably Reflaugh's mistress. Why her little sister is a slave in The Pit, Justin has not made clear, so we will have to wait until the book. Either way, Prill must defeat her if he wants to keep on living.

Like "Speared," there has been some confusion in the lyrics of "Second Best," specifically the bridge of the song. Fans seem to be misunderstanding exactly who Prill is talking about when he says the lines, "I never thought she would be here with me. It was nice to finally hear a friendly voice just like my own. I shouldn’t be ashamed… Her loss is just the price of power. And if my gods fall one by one, maybe I won’t remember the truth." Since the lyrics give little to no info, we decided to ask Justin directly.

"Well, I do not want to spoil the novel. I have a lot of work to do before I even get to Three Gods & Me, but I will say it is not Prite, Abalone, Arilayah, or Rudiff. In The Pit, Prill runs into an old friend, and she basically asks him not to fight anymore because... it is not his fight. She cares about him, unlike all of the people in this city, and she cannot stand to watch him get hurt. Despite this, Prill continues to fight, and she pretty much peaces out." - Justin Bonitz

With that being said, the lyrics of this song start to make a lot more sense. The first verse is Prill continuing to wake up from the numbness he has been wallowing in for the last year. The second verse is obviously him feeling abandoned by his friend, and the chorus is him trying to make her feel bad for not believing in him. The rest of the song seems to be Prill defeating Arilayah, as once the song ends, Krayle says something along the lines of, "He's done it! He's beaten The Second God!" Based on the line in the breakdown, "Don’t try to justify—there is no better lie. And we're all frightened of fighting—of dying," and the fist verse of "Finally Fearless," it is safe to assume that Prill is indeed taking the lives of these champions, not just knocking them out. The Pit is a "Two men enter, one man leaves" type of scenario.

Note: Despite the release dates, Justin claims that "Second Best" was written before "Pulse," which is a song featured on his rap album, "Dear Rudiff." The song's first verse, second verse, and bridge are 80-90% the same lyrics, however, "Second Best" features a totally different chorus, and a breakdown. He says that "Pulse" was supposed to be a remix of "Second Best" because the lyrics already fit the concept of "Dear Rudiff," so he did not see the point in changing them. He thought it would be cool to have a musical crossover in his projects, which is why he decided to sample the piano and cadence of "Umber Tower" in the "Dear Rudiff" track "Response" as well.